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A great support pillow

Some women literally bloom during pregancy, they just give of a lovely glow of health and happines....... I am not one of those women! Pregnancy does not suit me one little bit. While I love the end result, the truth is that for most of the nine months, I feel pretty miserable. With all three of my pregnancies I have suffered from aches and pains and most of all really bad backache. I just feel exhausted all the time and as if my bones have aged by about 50 yrs.

The biggest problem for me has always been sleeping, I really struggled to get comfortable, my back would be aching and I'd be tossing and turning all time. The next day I would just feel more uncomfortable and even more exhausted.

This time round I was determined to make myself as comfortable as possible, so I decided to take the plunge and this pregnancy support pillow from Mothercare. They had been recommended to me by friends and it got to the point where I was willing to try anything and spend my pennies in attempt to get a decent nights sleep.

This pillow cost me a quite steep £29.99 which does seem a lot but really you do get a whole lot of pillow for that price. The pillow comes with a removable case for washing and has a lovely squishy feel to it.

Now this pillow didn't remove all my aches and pains but I have to say that it certainly aided me to have a much better nights sleep. I would lay on my side and use the pillow to support my bump and then I would hook my leg over it. It just gave me much more support and allowed me to sleep in a much more comfortable position. From that day onwards until the end of my pregnancy, I used this pillow every night, and the couple of occasions I stayed with friends, I really missed it.

Now my gorgoeus boy is here, I am still using my beloved pillow, it has proved to be fantastic for breast feeding in the middle of the night. It supports me when everything about me wants to be laying down sleeping and makes things much easier.

I love this pillow and think it will remain in my bed for a long time to come, I just wish I had invested in one during my first pregnancy rather than waiting until now.

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A must have for later on in pregnanacy

Pregnancy is one of the most rewarding times but also one of the most challenging times for the woman and I found that from my 2nd Trimester (14 weeks onwards) I was struggling to sleep, at first we blamed the bed which we had not been comfortable with for a while but then I realised it was more my protruding bump which was causing the aches and pains.

To try and combat this I used a spare pillow but just still could not get comfortable and after another nights bad sleep my husband returned home with the Mothercare Sleep Body Pillow in the hope that this would help me.

The pillow comes in 2 options, the original Mothercare Sleep Body Pillow at £29.99 and the Lavender Sleep Body Pillow at £34.99. The difference between the Lavender Pillow is that is comes with a Lavender Heat pack which slips into the pouch on the pillow to help soothe aches and pains.

When hubby came home with this I was so pleased until I opened the box and realised just how big it was!!

The box was about half of the size of the pillow and when I opended the box the pillow was stuffed tightly inside in a clear plastic wrapper.

The Pillow is about 4.5ft long and very padded and contains its own pillowcase which can be removed and washed and I have to say I was very excited about the thought of a good nights sleep with this wonderful invention!

My normal sleeping position used to be on my belly, how this has changed as being pregnant this is one of the most uncomfortable positions and sleeping on your back is a no no once you have a prominent bump. It is recommended that you sleep on your left which if I have to sleep on my side this is the side I use. The pillow itself is a bit difficult to manage when getting into the position due to its size but once you have it where you want it and relax it is soooooooo comfortable.

I sleep with the pillow inbetween my legs which I then pull up to my tummyand rest my tummy on the pillow which is just what I needed something to support the bump.

This pillow is ideal during pregnancy and also afterwards to support you and hubby and I use it when in bed as an extra pillow between us and also to support when breastfeeding the baby so it can be used afterwards.

If you are struggling to sleep I do recommend this pillow although it may seem fairly costly it is comfortable and will last much longer than your pregnancy.

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Aids a better nights sleep

Although pregnancy is a wonderful experience, it's not always the most comfortable. Finding a comfortable position to sleep can be difficult, especially in the final months, even if you don't have any additional problems. And if you do suffer from a problem such as Symphis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) then it's almost impossible to sleep without suffering from severe pain. This is where the Mothercare Sleep Body Pillow comes into it's own.

The size of the box the Sleep Pillow is vacuum packed in totally belies the actual size of the pillow. I was a little shocked when my partner brought it home, it was hard to believe that such a large product could be so easily carried back from the shop. On opening the box it was easy enough to open up the plastic packaging (using a pair of scissors) and the pillow 're-inflated' almost immediately. The pillow itself is very large, being about the size of a bolster, firm and yet soft and comes with a machine washable white cotton cover. I'm not going to get out a tape measure but when laying down beside it, it easily reaches from my chest to my ankles (I'm 5'1").

When using the pillow to sleep, I normally position it so that it's between my legs, then comes up under my bump and finally I 'cuddle' it with my arms. The pillow easily moulds to my body shape and feels incredibly comfortable. I suffer from SPD and this means that without support trying to sleep is an incredibly painful experience and I will wake every hour or so. Even using bog-standard pillows to support my pelvis doesn't help much. But now I have the body pillow I can sleep for several hours without waking, and when I do wake the pain is no-where nearly as bad. The only problems are that it can be quite difficult to turn over as the pillow is so bulky and needs to be moved to the other side of the body and that I need to climb over it to get into or out of bed. The pillow's cover washes up well when using a 30 degree wash cycle and spare covers can be purchased from various sources, all you need to do is look for bolster covers.

The Mothercare Sleep Body Pillow has been a godsend, it may have been a quite large outlay at £29.99, especially as cheaper versions can be purchased on-line for as little as £9.99. But it is of a much higher quality and a good night's sleep is something I just couldn't put a price on. Without this pillow I would get maybe 3 hours broken sleep a night, and be in constant pain while trying to get that sleep. But with the pillow my body is so well supported that I'm able to sleep for most of the night and the pain is far less noticeable. And after the baby is born we're planning to use the pillow as a bolster as it is far more comfortable than most pillows on the market.

So if you're pregnant and find it hard to get comfortable at night then I can't recommend this enough, just make sure your partner doesn't try and 'nick' it off you in the night.